Tool for a cleaner Long Island Sound.
There are 116 rivers, estuaries, harbors, and bays along Long Island Sound, and the amount of nitrogen runoff varies enormously from one to another.
They spent four years collecting data on where the nitrogen comes from in each of the 116 estuaries, rivers, and harbors, because while people may only care a little about Long Island Sound in the abstract, they care a lot about their own specific place.
"[The model] is a tool for citizens and managers to explore the impact of different actions," says Vaudrey, an assistant research professor in marine sciences.
There’s also a page called ‘interesting results’ that shows the 27 places with the highest load of nitrogen per water area.
With this information, decision-makers can identify the most significant sources of nitrogen pollution and use proven solutions — such as upgrading and modernizing septic systems or reducing fertilizer use — to sustain clean water," says Holly Drinkuth, director of outreach and watershed projects at The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut.
Vaudrey hopes to work with organizations adept at outreach, such as The Nature Conservancy, Save the Sound, and the Long Island Sound Study, to better inform management decisions at the local level.
She is also starting work on a second model, one that looks at what happens in the coastal waters once nitrogen is introduced.
"Tool for a cleaner Long Island Sound: Model could help citizens manage nitrogen pollution in their local waterways."
"Tool for a cleaner Long Island Sound: Model could help citizens manage nitrogen pollution in their local waterways."

Researchers at the University of Arizona have found a promising way to prevent the loss of millions of tons of crops to a fungus each year, offering the potential to dramatically improve food security, especially in developing countries.
The team’s approach uses transgenic corn plants that produce small RNA molecules that prevent fungi from producing aflatoxin, highly toxic substances that can render an entire harvest unsafe for human consumption even in small amounts.
Although extensive field testing will have to precede widespread application of the new technique in agricultural settings around the world, the results of the study, published in Science Advances, showed that transgenic corn plants infected with the fungus suppressed toxin levels below detectable limits.
Unlike in the U.S., where crops intended for human consumption are tested for aflatoxin and incinerated once levels approach 20 parts per billion (equivalent to one drop of water in a 22,000-gallon pool), no testing is available in many developing parts of the world, especially in Africa, where millions of people depend on consuming what they harvest.
The modified corn plants carry a genetic blueprint for small RNA molecules, each only about 20 base pairs long, only in the edible kernels, not the whole plant.
"The corn is constantly producing that RNA during the entire development of the kernel," Schmidt explained.
In their experiments, the team infected corn plants with Aspergillus and let them grow for one month.
The team took the project a step further and investigated overall gene expression in kernels to see if the transgenic corn plants come with undesired side effects.
This involved co-author Rod Wing’s laboratory, also of the UA’s School of Plant Sciences, to compare thousands of RNA transcripts between the nontransgenic control kernels and transgenic kernels.
"This corn plant would be like any other," she said.

WEBSITE NEWS: New website features, Maven to mark a milestone, and more … !.
There is also a weekly option, which will send out Featured articles and significant news items posted on the Notebook along with links to the daily features.
New Announcements section on the front page: In an effort to bring you even more from Maven’s Notebook, I have created a new section on the front page titled “Announcements”, where I will post announcements from the State Water Board, Bureau of Reclamation, Army Corps, and others on opportunities to comment, notices of preparation, California Water Fix rulings, and other water minutia.
These items won’t appear in the sliderbox, but will be listed on the bottom of the daily emails.
While there are still many sections yet to be completed, I’m working to add new sections all the time.
April 17th will mark ten years since I started my first water news website.
Email it to me and I’ll try to answer it in the upcoming post.
– and I look forward to implementing them over the coming years.
I certainly would not be marking this upcoming milestone if not for you, my readers.
I’ll save the big thank you for next week, but do know that it really is because you all show up here every day, that I do, too.

California Gov.
Jerry Brown ended the state of emergency drought order for most of the state, signaling an end to the four-year drought some in the media claimed would be “unending” and “probably forever.” Brown rescinded the state of emergency order Friday, but kept some water conservation measures in place to keep residents from returning to “wasteful” habits, like watering their lawn while it’s raining.
California saw its three warmest years on record (2014, 2015 and 2016) during that time and the Sierra-Cascades mountains saw their lowest snowpack on record, about 5 percent of normal.
News outlets amplified those claims in 2016, running with headlines about permanent drought.
Wired reported that same month: “Thanks El Niño, But California’s Drought Is Probably Forever.” To be fair, more than 90 percent of California was mired in varying levels of drought around that time, with more than 55 percent in extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Flash forward one year and only about 9 percent of the state is in drought.
A few more weeks with rain and snow filled eight of 10 major state reservoirs to well above average.
Unfortunately, rainfall in early February brought so much water, the Oroville Dam’s spillway collapsed, which in turn, nearly caused the emergency spillway to break apart.
The disaster highlighted the need to upkeep California’s critical water infrastructure.
More recently, California went through a major drought in the 1970s and Brown — the very same — imposed emergency measures then as well.

Borges: Sergio Garcia has Masters plan to break major drought.
“The more majors I play the more chances I have,” Garcia said after his round of 3-under-par 69.
It’s not Sunday.” For Garcia, Sunday at the majors has been the day that never comes.
He lost that day but convinced many golf experts that his would be a career filled with major championships.
Garcia has only three top-10 finishes here in 19 starts and it was at Augusta five years ago that he had what seemed at the time a flameout of fractured confidence when he told the Spanish press after a stumbling third-round 75 took him out of contention on a day that began with him tied for the lead that he would never master the Masters or any major championship.
I’ve been trying for 13 years and I don’t feel capable of winning.
After 13 years, my chances are over.
One more chance to make things right?
Probably not so many years ago but Garcia explained he has become more accepting of such things as the years have passed.
“Once you realize that sometimes funny things are going to happen with good shots and you can accept that, then you can do better.

Garcia Masters Augusta to end major drought.
Sergio Garcia ended nearly two decades of major heartbreak when he beat Justin Rose in a playoff to win the U.S. Masters on Sunday on what would have been the 60th birthday of his hero, the late Seve Ballesteros.
"I did think about, am I ever going to win one?"
admitted Garcia.
Garcia and Rose both carded 69 to finish tied on nine-under-par 279, three strokes clear of 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, sending the year’s first major to a playoff when both missed birdie putts at the 72nd hole.
To do it on his (Ballesteros’) 60th birthday and to join him and Jose Maria Olazabal, my two idols in golf, it is something amazing," said Garcia.
Garcia has been plagued by self doubt in the majors and once said he did not have what it takes to be a major winner.
On Sunday, though, he demonstrated during an enthralling rollercoaster battle with Rose that he does indeed possess the tools, demeanor and determination of a champion.
Garcia and Rose traded birdies on the front nine to make the turn tied, before Garcia bogeyed the 10th and 11th holes as Rose took a two-shot lead with six holes left.
They were on level terms two holes later after Garcia almost made an albatross at the par-five 15th, his eight-iron second landing inches short of the hole before brushing the pin and trickling 14 feet away, from where he made his eagle putt, the ball teetering on the edge of the cup before toppling in.

Sergio Garcia of Spain birdied the first hole in a sudden-death playoff to outlast Justin Rose of England and win the Masters on Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., breaking his 0-for-73 drought in major tournaments.
Both players missed birdie putts – Rose’s was from 10 feet while Garcia’s was from 5 feet – on the 18th hole to push the tournament into a sudden-death playoff tied at 9-under-par 279.
The players returned to the 18th tee for the first playoff hole.
Garcia ripped his approach to 10 feet before Rose found the green on his third shot well outside the Spaniard’s ball, meaning he would have to putt first.
Both players shot 3-under-par 69s on Sunday before heading into the playoff.
Then the duo was tied again when Garcia parred and Rose bogeyed the par-4 17th after hitting his approach shot into the bunker short of the green.
Kuchar had a hole-in-one on the 16th hole.
Rose and Garcia began the final round tied for the lead at 6 under but the Spaniard, playing in his 74th major event and still looking for his first win, quickly moved to a three-shot lead thanks to birdies on the par-4 first hole and the par-4 third and Rose’s bogey on the par-4 fifth.
Rose turned things around with three straight birdies on the par-3 sixth, the par-4 seventh and the par-5 eighth holes, and the two players hit the back nine tied at 8 under.
He dropped another shot on the par-4 11th when he drove his ball into the woods to the left of the fairway and couldn’t fashion a par; Rose walked off the 11th green with a two-shot lead.

Sergio Garcia wins the Masters, ends drought at the majors.
Sergio Garcia finally showed he has what it takes to win a major, and he has a green jacket to prove it.
Needing his best golf on just about every shot in the final hour at the Masters, Garcia overcame a two-shot deficit with six holes to play and beat Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff Sunday for his first major after nearly two decades of heartache.
No one ever played more majors as a pro — 70 — before winning one for the first time.
It was never easy until the end, when Rose sent his drive into the trees on the 18th hole in the playoff, punched out and failed to save par from 15 feet.
Rose was just over the back of the green in two, on the verge of turning a two-shot lead into four.
He hit wedge to 7 feet and escaped with par.
The lead stayed at two shots but not for long.
Rose took the lead with an 8-foot birdie on the 16th and gave it back by missing a 7-foot par putt on the 18th.
He had to birdie three of his last four holes for a 75.

Watch Red Wings’ Riley Sheahan end 79-game drought with first goal.
After failing to score in his first 79 games this season, Sheahan finally connected in the Red Wings’ season finale – and the last game at Joe Louis Arena – to open the scoring Sunday against the New Jersey Devils.
Sheahan, who hadn’t scored since the final game of last season, beat Cory Schneider with a wrist shot from the slot at 7:09 of the first period.
Frans Nielsen and Justin Abdelkader drew the assists.
Sheahan had set a team record for the most games to start the season without a goal and he also set an NHL record as the only forward with at least 100 shots to start the season without a goal.
He scored on his 107th shot of the season.
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Changes in climate can rapidly impact even the deepest freshwater aquifers according to Penn State and Columbia University hydrologists.
"These aquifers are so deep, we expect it takes years for precipitation to make its way down, so if it’s not natural recharge causing the response of groundwater to changes in precipitation, then it may be coming from pumping changes."
The research, published in Nature Geoscience, sheds new light on groundwater budgets in the U.S. and better defines how water held in deep aquifers could change with the climate.
Groundwater used by municipalities and industry is almost always drawn from deep wells, which provide a more reliable source of water than shallow aquifers, especially during times of drought.
Despite the importance of these deep aquifers, no one really knows how much water they contain or how they might react to climate change.
"But we actually see a relatively rapid response."
Russo said evidence suggests that pumping represents an intermediate connection between precipitation and deep groundwater levels.
"If you look at agricultural areas where you have crop water demand changing as a function of precipitation, that is going to control pumping variability over time," Russo said.
"Pumping could be an intermediate connection between climate and groundwater — one that causes an immediate response."
Though evidence suggests pumping causes the rapid response between deep groundwater and climate, scientists were not able to conclusively link them because of a lack of pumping data across the U.S. "We need more data collection on human activities," Russo said.